The Breadwinner

Have been overly preoccupied with my mini novel The Breadwinner appearing in serialised form in the Free Malaysia Today online daily (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2013/07/21/the-breadwinner). Have completed six chapters so far with another two or three chapters to conclude the mini novel which will be my first attempt in producing a mini novel.

politics in the land of mountains

Politics is struggle for power over the masses – in the context of so-called democracy which today is nothing more than capitalism – where the rich have supreme control over the running of the Government. With people power or `Makkal Sakthi”, the order of the day today, every wannabe politician is out to woo the public of Malaysia. While the Barisan Nasional which has been the ruling coalition in the country for over five decades since Independance from the Colonial regime, is attempting to come out of its shell of `over confidence’ in `its right to rule’, to court voters after being rudely awakened from its stupor by the March 8, 2008 General Elections; other political forces are also at work to grab people’s hearts and mind.

The latest to enter the fray is the Malaysian Makkal Sakti Party (MMSP) which much to the surprise of everyone got its registration approved by the usually finicky Registrar of Societies (ROS) with lightning speed. At the head of the party is a former national coodinator of the banned Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) R.S. Thanenthiren who was recently sidelined by Hindraf who has the support of some invisible hands.

It does not take an astute political analyst to see that MMSP is an effort to split the Indian grassroot support of Hindraf whose five leaders led by P. Uthayakumar held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), were recently released. It is also obvious now that the political masters behind this move have only one motive – that is to further divide the Indian community. As it is the Indian community in Malaysia has been fragmented into two clear divides, the pro-BN and anti-BN camps. (Contrary to what people think the community is still wary of the Opposition leadership which had apparently failed to give immediate attention to its needs.)

Judging by the showing in the March 8 General Election, the anti-BN camp is clearly the larger camp with probably every Indian voter who is not a `loyal’ member of MIC, PPP, IPF, Gerakan. despite the fact that these four parties claim to have a total of about 1.5 million Indian members out of the two million Indian population in Malaysia. I stress the word `loyal’ because many long time Indians members of MIC, PPP, IPF and even Gerakan had gone anti-BN after the Hindraf wake in 2007.

But judging by the trend in present day politics, the MMSP will only serve as a platform for political opportunists and many other Indian community leaders free floating at the periphery of MIC, PPP, IPF and Gerakan. Apart from this the party is not expected to win over the Indian people who have so far been unfairly stereotyped by the BN ruling coalition and its opponent, the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Using the crab analogy they see the Indian community as a disunited people who are forever pulling each other down in the climb for progress. The general Indian community outside the political scene are actually a united and highly organised group with thousands of Non-governmental Organisations actively operating, to look after the community’s needs, nurture it and safeguard its dignity, culture, religion and welfare. This is the real reason the majority of the Indian community keep away from politics.

Another reason why the majority of the Indian community chooses to keep away from political parties is because Indian political leaders have so far been unimpressive, untrustworthy and lacking in vision. Monopoly of leadership posts by opportunists, power mongers and the morally corrupt, have over the decades eroded the community’s faith in these political leaders (in particular the dictatorial and egoistic Samy Vellu who over two decades categorically undermined the future of Indians in the country at the expense of his own ego boosting trip) who they know had grossly misrepresented the community and stifled its growth.

The only reprieve for the community lies in the self-development of every individual taking stock of the community’s glorious ancestry and rich heritage not only in India but in the pre-historic past of Malaysia, to help dispel the discrimination, political suppression and backwardness of most sections of the community and stake a permanent and undisputed place for the community in the socio-economic structure of Malaysia.